


lovely like the moon

by pechaberryy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, I wrote this instead of studying, I'm Bad At Tagging, Love Confessions, M/M, This is my first work, ap exams are this week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pechaberryy/pseuds/pechaberryy
Summary: Now, though, as he finishes his signature, caps his marker and hands the jersey back to the fan, who thanks him hastily before high-tailing it out of there, Shion thinks he has a name for it. A word that he struggled to pronounce when he was first learning English, the sound of the language strange-tasting on his tongue. Four letters, one syllable, two consonants and two vowels.Love.
Relationships: Background Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi, Inunaki Shion/Adriah Thomas
Comments: 9
Kudos: 133





	lovely like the moon

Inunaki Shion is 26, 174 centimeters tall, and madly in love with Adriah Tomas. 

The first, he realizes on his 26th birthday, surrounded by his teammates in the Black Jackals locker room as he blows out the candles on his birthday cake. It is just before the next V. League playing season, and with their next match two days away, there’s no time for a real party, but Shion still feels warm inside as Bokuto and Shouyou present him with the cake, their wide grins infectious. 

The second, he realizes when he’s getting a physical in anticipation of the upcoming season. He’s managed to grow two centimeters since his last check-up, and he tells the team doctor as much, who smiles and nods and chuckles to himself privately at the thought of Inunaki Shion, pro volleyball player and one of the best liberos in Japan, getting so worked up over two little centimeters. 

The third, he realizes surrounded by fans, signing a jersey for the young, flustered girl in front of him, Tomas only a seat away. The fanmeet takes place three days after their last match against the Adlers- who, he might add, got their asses handed to them, courtesy of their newest cannon, Shouyou- and as he sits there, scrawling his signature onto jerseys and volleyballs and arms, he thinks about Tomas, and about loving Tomas, and isn’t this the worst time to be thinking about something like that?

The problem with loving Tomas is that Shion has no idea if Tomas even likes him back. Hell, he doesn’t even know if Tomas likes _men_. Tomas, who has puppy-dog eyes and a smile like silver moonlight and height that rivals most skyscrapers, is very popular with women, as Shion has discovered at fanmeets and bars and even the supermarket. 

The first time Tomas asked Shion to come with him to buy fruit at the store ( _Inunaki-kun, could you help me ask where the lychees are?_ ), their cashier very indiscreetly tried to get Tomas’s number- however, Tomas, who still doesn’t quite understand the nuances of asking someone out in japanese, didn’t get the memo, and Shion rushed them both out of the store before the woman could explain what she meant further. 

At first, he didn’t have a name for the fluttering sensation that filled his chest every time Tomas grinned at him on the court, or the way his stomach dropped every time he watched Tomas twist his shirt over his head in the locker room. Initially, he thought he might be sick, but he didn’t think heart disease was supposed to flare up every time you look at your dark-eyed, dark-haired teammate with corded back muscles and a dimple in his right cheek that only reveals itself when he smiles at you, bright and broad and lovely like the moon. 

Now, though, as he finishes his signature, caps his marker and hands the jersey back to the fan, who thanks him hastily before high-tailing it out of there, Shion thinks he has a name for it. A word that he struggled to pronounce when he was first learning English, the sound of the language strange-tasting on his tongue. Four letters, one syllable, two consonants and two vowels. 

_Love._

He exhales through his nose, leaning back in his seat and observing the room. Meian is busy wrangling Bokuto, who for some reason seems intent on picking up Barnes, who despite Bokuto’s insistence and impressive biceps, is 207 centimeters tall and not budging. Shouyou is cheering Bokuto on, Atsumu is laughing, and Sakusa is very vocally expressing his desire to dig his grave in the floor they are standing on and jump on in. Ah, youth.

The commotion allows Shion to look over at Tomas, who is watching the group with a sort of innocent puzzlement. Even Shion has to agree that there is something a little bit ridiculous about Tomas’s whole existence. He is like if you opened up Photoshop and pasted a picture of a baby’s face onto the body of a towering, ripped professional athlete. He is like if you took a picture of a puppy and stretched it out to be two meters tall.

Paradoxical body aside, Tomas is undoubtedly beautiful. He has hands twice the size of Shion’s own, and lips that look impossibly soft and twist in concentration whenever he’s thinking. Shion would like to know what they feel like against his own.

Is it wrong to be this entirely obsessed with your teammate? Maybe. He imagines what Meian would say. _No, as long as you keep it off the court,_ probably. Their team captain is pretty lax as far as team captains go, unless it comes to their performance on the court, and if he had rules regarding fraternization with team members, that would probably be one of them. 

Of course, Shion is also on the same team as Miya Atsumu, who manages to remain a stellar setter even while he casts longing looks towards Sakusa Kiyoomi during every practice. That could just be Atsumu, though.

He fixes his attention back on Tomas. Tomas’s hair falls in a soft, straight fringe over his forehead, and looks impossibly glossy even though Tomas has told him that all he uses is shampoo and conditioner from the drug store. Shion has the inexplicable urge to run his hands through it. Fuck. No thinking about running his hands through Adriah’s hair. That is definitely against Meian’s hypothetical fraternization rules. Ah, and now he’s calling Tomas Adriah in his head. He is definitely in too deep. 

Shion blinks, and suddenly Tomas is looking at _him_ , not at Bokuto’s impressive but failing attempt to pick up Barnes. Tomas has very dark, very pretty eyes, and a tiny mole above his left eyebrow that is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. Puppy-dog eyes, indeed. Shion wants to eat him alive. 

“What are you thinking about, Inunaki-kun?” Tomas asks innocently. 

You, his brain supplies, unhelpfully. “Bokuto-kun,” his mouth says instead. He gestures over his shoulder with his pen. “I know he’s a pro volleyball player, but, you know, so is Barnes, and Barnes has, like, 20 centimeters and probably 50 pounds on him. Maybe he should give up.” 

Tomas laughs, light and lilting. “I don’t think you could get Bokuto-kun to give up on anything even if you paid him.” He looks fondly again towards their juniors. Shouyou is now trying, with much more success than Bokuto, to lift a squawking Atsumu off the ground. Sakusa seems to have succeeded in the whole grave thing, as he is now slumped over in his chair, seemingly dead. “Our juniors seem to have a lot going on, huh?”

“Maybe too much going on.”

“You think so?” 

“Definitely.” No one is paying attention to them now, too busy focusing on Meian’s plight to save their wing spiker from Bokuto, and he sends up a silent thank-you to whatever merciful god allowed him to be sitting here, right now, in this crowded room with no eyes on him but those of Adriah Tomas. He uncaps his water bottle and takes a swig from it, eyeing Tomas. “Say, Tomas-san, why did you decide to come to Japan?”

Tomas blinks at the sudden change in topic. “Well… a variety of reasons, I guess you could say. Volleyball isn’t as big in New Zealand as it is here, so if I wanted to play really competitively, I felt like I needed to come to Japan.”

“Wasn’t it hard?” 

Tomas laughs again. Oh, man, his mouth is beautiful. Would Shion feel his smile under his mouth if he leaned up to kiss him? “Oh, definitely. When I first came to Japan, I didn’t know anyone here, and on top of that, I barely knew Japanese. But…” He shrugs with just one shoulder, taking a sip of his own water. “...it was for volleyball, and I’m here now, so it all worked out in the end, right? If I didn’t move to Japan, I definitely wouldn’t be as good at volleyball as I am now.” 

He grins brightly at Shion. “And besides, if I didn’t move to Japan, I wouldn’t have met you.”

How is it humanly possible to be this cute? The look Tomas is giving him is driving him insane, and Shion can’t decide if he wants to kill him or kiss him. Maybe both. Suddenly, Shion is very aware that they are in a very crowded room right now, surrounded by fans who are currently not watching them but could be if Tomas decides to keep this up. Shion is certain he would not survive the encounter. He sputters helplessly, like a fish gasping for air. 

“Tomas, you can’t just say stuff like that,” he hisses in English, trying to ignore the rising heat in his face. Tomas looks at him quizzically, tilting his head. His hair falls softly over his forehead, covering that tiny mole above his eyebrow. 

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

“No, really, tell me.” This man will be the death of him. Shion covers his face with his hands, his cheeks red-hot against his palms. He peeks out from between his fingers at Tomas, who still has him fixed with that blank look. 

“You really don’t know?” It’s barely above a whisper. 

Tomas blinks at him slowly. “No?”

Shion could say it, right now. No one is looking at them, no one would have to know. It’s the perfect opportunity. 

_What if he doesn’t say it back? What if Tomas doesn’t even like men?_ a tiny voice in his head worries. They say there are two wolves inside of you, one of which wants to ruin your life and one of which is sensible and knows that confessing to Adriah Tomas, 27 year old middle blocker on V. League pro team MSBY Black Jackals, is a very bad idea. 

Shion is not a fan of this second wolf. Before he can let his dumb mouth trick itself into staying quiet, he blurts out, “Tomas-san, I think I’m in love with you.”

Tomas looks just as blank as he did before, and Shion realizes that instead of confessing his undying love, he has instead just confessed a garbled mess of vowels. “Huh?”

He inhales deeply. “I love you,” he repeats, in English this time, deliberate so that he doesn’t mess up again. Tomas goes white, then pink.

“Oh.” That single word sucks all of the air out of their little bubble, and Shion lowers his head with an inward groan, bumping it on the table. He’s definitely fucked up now. He’s fucked up before in the past, but never to this extent. Tomas will never look at him the same again. Practice will be so unbearable. How much would it cost to fake his death and book a flight to Brazil? Maybe Shouyou could hook him up with something. 

There is a rustling, and Shion feels the scrape of Tomas’s calluses against his knuckles as the warm weight of his bigger hand covers his own. All feeling in Shion’s body zeroes in on the sensation, and he swears his soul leaves his body, because Adriah Tomas, 27 year old middle blocker on V. League pro team MSBY Black Jackals, is currently holding his hand. He is fully clothed, but that tiny touch makes him feel naked. 

“I love you too, Inunaki-kun.” Flabbergasted, Shion lifts his head and stares at Tomas, whose face is colored a shade rivaling that of a tomato and is currently refusing to meet his eye. Did he hear that right? He must have. He’s never had hearing problems, but suddenly, he’s doubting his own ears. He wants to climb up on the table and tear off his shirt and scream into the crowd, _did anyone else hear that?_

“You do?” His voice comes out shaky. He is acutely conscious that he sounds just like the main lead of some corny k-drama, and while normally he would want to kick himself, he truly can’t bring himself to care right now. Tomas swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing, then nods, his eyes meeting Shion’s with a renewed determination.

“Yes.”

At this moment, they may as well be the only two people in the room. The sounds of Bokuto’s labored grunts and Shouyou’s cheers and the snap of phone cameras seem miles away, as if Tomas- no, Adriah, is the only one who matters right now. His knuckles are on fire. His skin is on fire. He is on fire. He stares back at Adriah, and can’t help the smile tugging the corners of his mouth upwards.

“I’m glad,” he says, and he is.

**Author's Note:**

> 69 NATION RISE UP
> 
> hello there!! despite writing and fanfiction both having been big interests for me for several years now, i have never actually took it upon myself to write a fanfiction until now. when i found about this pairing, it grabbed me by my throat and demanded my full attention, and who was i to complain? i'm writing this at 4pm the sunday before my ap exams start, but if even just one person enjoys this, i think it will have been worth it.
> 
> my interpretation of inunaki and tomas in this fic was heavily inspired by [elmo's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perennials/pseuds/perennials) lovely fic, [THE FRANKLY ALARMING AND HIGHLY UNNATURAL ORDER OF THINGS IN THE MSBY BLACK JACKALS' PRESENT-DAY UNIVERSE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24094555)! please go give it some love, it's such a sweet fic and brightened my day a lot when i read it. i love the idea of tomas as a big baby man and shion as being like. just a little bit feral asgfjak
> 
> on another note, what exactly is the ship name for this pairing? i've heard tomashio somewhere, but i think this pairing is honestly rare enough that there's not really a definitive answer'' lmk what you guys think! if you have any feedback, i'd love to hear that in the comments too, but please go easy on me haha


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